Some comics feeling heat of 'cancel culture'

Los Angeles

The Comedy Store's Potluck open-mic night has a few ground rules: Buy two drinks, no heckling and absolutely no digital recording of any kind. After entering the Sunset Boulevard venue's dim patio room and hearing the comics' three-minute sets, it's easy to see why.

At the Comedy Store, taboo doesn't exist. Jokes about homeless people, suicide, a fat woman, lesbians and 9/11 echo off the neon-trimmed walls, along with expletives and slurs so foul they'd almost certainly earn their writers trial by Twitter if uttered in a Netflix special or podcast. But this was neither, and the room roared with laughter.

Spaces like Potluck, where comics can sound off completely unchecked, sit in opposition to our so-called "cancel culture" — the backlash against offensive remarks that has confronted Roseanne Barr, Kevin Hart, Dave Chappelle and, most recently, Shane Gillis. Amid heightened social awareness and sharpened scrutiny, local comedians are feeling the heat, causing some to think twice about their riskier material and triggering an instinct among all to protect their own.

"You've got to support each other because it's a hard thing to do," Feng Chao, 35, said. "It's fair to say life is hard. Stand-up — to do stand-up — it's harder. Sometimes it's harder than life."

Many performers and Comedy Store employees lamented the consequences comedians have faced for insensitive tweets and comments made in stand-up specials or on podcasts. Yes, even in the case of Gillis, who lost a coveted gig as a "Saturday Night Live" cast member after video circulated of him using an anti-Chinese slur, mimicking a Chinese accent and mocking the conventions of Chinese restaurants.

"It's kind of absurd to cancel somebody that doesn't really have any money or power," said Dave...